Objective: Continuous intragastric pH monitoring was used in a large group of gastric ulcer patients to assess whether the 24-h acidity pattern varies in relation to the ulcer location within the stomach and to assess whether there is a circadian rhythm of pH fluctuations in this disease. Methods: One hundred and thirty-three consecutive patients (79 male and 54 female, mean age 53 yr) with endoscopically and histologically proven benign gastric ulcer and 131 healthy subjects (70 male and 61 female, mean age 48 yr) were studied with a pH mini-electrode positioned in the gastric corpus. Ulcer patients were divided into four subgroups in relation to the crater site: 1) above the angulus (n = 23); 2) angularis (n = 42); 3) antral (n = 26); and 4) prepyloric (n = 42). Results: Subgroups 1 and 2 are characterized by significantly lower acidity (p < 0.0001) than healthy subjects for every time segment examined (24-h, day and night). Antral ulcers are less acidic than normal for both the total 24-h period (p < 0.01) and the night period (p < 0.0001), whereas prepyloric ulcers are less acidic for the night only (p < 0.01). In all subgroups of gastric ulcer, the acidity is higher during the evening than the night. Conclusions: The circadian acidity of gastric ulcer patients is significantly lower than normal, and this is particularly true during the nocturnal period. There is a gradient of gastric acidity that increases progressively as the lesion approximates to the pylorus. The well known circadian rhythm of gastric acidity with relatively higher acid levels during the evening than the night was maintained in all of the gastric ulcer subgroups we created.

Summary: In patients with Helicobacter pylori-positive duodenal ulcer (DU), the organism must be eradicated to achieve rapid, stable healing. However, evidence is against much else that is commonly accepted. (1) Does H. pylori cause the ulcer? Evidence against includes archaeopathology,...

Focuses on the use of gastric freezing in the treatment of peptic ulcer. Processes involved in gastric freezing; Complications resulting from the treatment; Effect of the treatment on the gastric hydrochloric acid secretion of ulcer patients.

The secretion of hydrochloric acid by the stomach plays an important role in protecting the body against pathogens ingested with food or water. A gastric fluid pH of 1 to 2 is deleterious to many microbial pathogens; however, the neutralization of gastric acid by antacids or the inhibition of...

Basal and maximum acid outputs were measured on two occasions in a group of 15 duodenal ulcer (DU) patients in remission. The initial study was carried out after a nocturnal acid collection, whereas the second was carried out in the conventional manner without preceding nocturnal aspiration. No...

The article overviews the study on the prevalence of gastric ulceration in slaughter pigs reared under different conditions. The findings linked the gastric ulceration to environment and revealed that finisher pigs held back under intensive conditions may acquire ulcers in the pars oesophagea of...

Various procedures have been described to reduce gastric acidity for a potential cure of recurrent duodenal ulcer disease. Long-term follow-up is available in open surgery for the highly selective vagotomy (HSV), with a 5% recurrent rate for 5 years. With the success of minimal invasive surgery...

Altered gastric physiology in albino rats fed with aqueous extract of Gnetum africana and Talinum triangulare (water leaf) was investigated in gastric hydrochloric acid secretion for the period of 7, 21 and 28 days. The results of mean acid output in the test group that received Gnetum Africana...